Google+ Games: Another fiscal FarmVille in the making?

Google+ will host a range of games, including Angry Birds and Bejeweled Blitz.

By
Matthew Shaer /
August 12, 2011

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Google+ Games is the latest addition to the Google+ interface.

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Google+ is getting games. 12 of them, to be precise, including Diamond Dash, Angry Birds, Dragons of Atlantis, and Bejeweled Blitz; Google says more titles will be available in coming months. All games are available directly through the Google+ interface, and all your scores can be shared with your Circles with a simple click of the mouse.

"With the Google+ project, we want to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to the web," Google exec Vic Gundotra wrote on the company blog. "But sharing is about more than just conversations. The experiences we have together are just as important to our relationships. We want to make playing games online just as fun, and just as meaningful, as playing in real life."

Fair enough. Of course, as Mark Hachman notes over at PC World, Google wants something back in exchange – namely the permission for the company behind the app to see your personal information, including your email address.

Google+, which launched last month, has already racked up a respectable following among Web users: By the middle of July, Google+ had 10 million users. By early this month, it was estimated that the site had 25 million users, far shy of Facebook, which is rapidly closing in on the one billion mark, but pretty impressive for a new service.

The Google+ Games platform is a canny move for two reasons: Firstly, as evidenced by the resounding success of FarmVille, social networkers love casual gaming. Secondly, it keeps Google+ smack dab in the middle of the news cycle – exactly where Google needs it to be. Used Google+? Drop us a line in the comments section below. And in the meantime, for more tech news, sign up for our free weekly newsletter, which arrives every Wednesday.